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United States Patent | 6,063,436 |
Pavell ,   et al. | May 16, 2000 |
The uniformity of individual layers of multiple coating materials deposited on a substrate in a vacuum deposition process (such as for manufacturing mirrors for use in ring laser gyroscopes) is improved by an apparatus and method that include changing the masks placed in front of the substrate upon which the coating materials are to be deposited. Separate masks are tuned for each particular coating material to compensate for the unique plume shape of the material, and provide a uniform deposition of that particular coating material. Each mask is positioned in front of the substrate when the material for which the mask has been tuned is being deposited. The masks are changed when the coating material is changed, without venting the chamber.
Inventors: | Pavell; James M. (Thousand Oaks, CA); Lee; Chong C. (Calabasas, CA); Cherbettchian; Agop H. (Santa Monica, CA); Stewart; Alan F. (Thousand Oaks, CA) |
Assignee: | Litton Systems, Inc. (Woodland Hills, CA) |
Appl. No.: | 113673 |
Filed: | July 10, 1998 |
Current U.S. Class: | 427/162; 204/192.11; 427/282; 427/402; 427/526; 427/561 |
Intern'l Class: | B05D 001/36; C23C 014/04; C23C 014/46 |
Field of Search: | 427/526,162,282,402,421,561,595 204/192.11 |
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4430790 | Feb., 1984 | Ohta | 29/569. |
4793908 | Dec., 1988 | Scott et al. | 204/192. |
5156727 | Oct., 1992 | Bjornard et al. | 204/298. |
5776359 | Jul., 1998 | Schultz et al. | 252/62. |